Fluffapalooza 2015
by Crysania
Summary: This is a series of short fluffy fics written for Rumbelle's 3rd anniversary. See "Chapter 1" for more details on the fics involved!
1. Introduction

All of these fics were written for the 2015 Fluffapalooza on Tumblr to celebrate Rumbelle's 3rd anniversary. For each I asked people to submit the first sentence for a fluffy fic and wrote a short work based on it.

* * *

The fics are as follows:

2: _Puppies._ "Belle was shocked when she opened the door to the shop only to find it completely overrun by puppies."

3: _Double Date_. "If there was a hell, Rumplestiltskin was sure it was double date night with the Charmings."

4: _The Right Present_. "It was almost Baelfire's birthday, and Belle thought she should give him a present, being his stepmother and all that, but the clock was ticking and every idea that popped into her head was worse than the one before."

5: _Stuck_. "It was without a doubt all completely _her _fault."

6: _Unexpected._ "This was certainly not what Charming was expecting to see."

7: _Advice Taken_. "Belle and Rumplestiltskin are walking home when something catches her eye in the sex store across the road." A followup to _Double Date_.

8: _Pillow Den_. "Even though you're the Dark One you can still enjoy a pillow den and cocoa."

9: _Blankets_. "Rumple, do we have any spare blankets?"

10: _Belle's Birthday_. "Of all the dates and events that he had found himself having to care about over the course of being the Dark One, he had never expected his little maid's birthday to become one of the more important ones."

11: _The New Puppy_. "Being the Dark One's True Love had taught Belle to expect the unexpected, but never had she thought she would return home to find him with a puppy in hand."


	2. Puppies

Belle was shocked when she opened the door to the shop only to find it completely overrun by puppies. Rumplestiltskin was a dog person. She had long ago figured that out, even if he would never ever admit it out loud. Longing glances at Pongo, hesitating just a little too long when they walked by the animal shelter. Oh, he was a dog person alright.

But puppies?

She squatted down to pet one and found herself suddenly inundated with them. Puppies in her lap. Puppies grabbing onto her hair. Puppy kisses on her cheeks and one determined little guy who jumped up and nipped at her nose.

"Rumple?" she called out and was greeted with a few choice curse words from the other room. "Help?" she said again, though really this was not something that she needed help _for_. Really, who didn't like to be completely overrun with puppies?

Several litters worth really.

She counted no less than twenty of them, puppies of all sizes and colors.

Rumplestiltskin finally ducked his head around the corner and she was greeted by yet another curse word. "I thought you weren't going to be out of the library until at least noon." He sounded exasperated and maybe even a little bit annoyed.

"I can leave," she said and tried to crawl toward the door, though the sea of puppies, which she was quite sure was growing by the second, stopped her in her path.

"No, no, there's no need for that."

She turned back to him, tried to turn over and sit on the ground, heard the squeak and gave up. Barely managing to stand, she had to push her way through the puppies to get to Rumplestiltskin, who helped to steady her as she came close to him. "What is going on here?"

He muttered something under his breath and turned away from her. And she knew. Of course she did. As more puppies seemed to appear out of nowhere, the group of twenty growing to thirty and maybe forty, puppies everywhere, pulling on tapestries, knocking over expensive items, she knew.

"What did you do?" And she couldn't help but be amused as she watched them wreak havoc on his shop.

"The perfect puppy," he muttered.

"What?"

"I wanted to create the perfect puppy for you." And he looked sheepish.

"These are magical puppies?"

"The spell went wrong." He sounded not only contrite but irritated.

"Obviously." She tried not to laugh.

"Can you reverse it?" She watched as yet another puppy seemed to make its way into the group, taller than the rest, shaggy. It hadn't been there before but suddenly it was followed by four littermates and the pile grew just a little bit more.

"It has to run its course."

"And that means?"

Rumplestiltskin glanced over her shoulder at the increasing number of puppies. "About another forty puppies give or take a few."

"Forty?" Belle said, looking around her with dismay.

"For a total of a hundred."

"And then?"

"Then I see if I can send them back. Or we have a hundred puppies to find homes for." He gave a little shrug but she glanced at the puppies and felt her heart sink. They'd be looking for homes for years for this many puppies. Maybe everyone in town would like a little Valentine's Day present?

"What _exactly_ did you do?"

She watched as his cheeks reddened just slightly. "I might have included in the spell that I wanted it to be one hundred percent the perfect puppy."

"For me? You were creating a puppy for me?"

"So you get one hundred puppies! Surprise!" He waved one hand out into his shop and tried to smile.

And Belle just laughed. And laughed some more. Finally she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Maybe we should just go to the animal shelter and find a completely non-magical puppy _there_."

His answering snort and "Of course, dear," warmed her heart even more than one hundred perfectly wriggly little puppies.


	3. Double Date

If there was a hell, Rumplestiltskin was sure it was double date night with the Charmings. He wasn't even sure how he had gotten talked into it, but he was fairly certain it had something to do with _later_ and a negligee that showed more than it didn't and a smirk that did things to his insides. He was putty in Belle's hands really.

And so here he was.

Heading to Granny's with the most beautiful woman in the world on his arm. And getting ready to meet up with the bloody Charmings.

_But you're the only other married couple we know! But we want to get to know you! But but but…_

They knew him. They probably knew him better than he'd like for them to know him. _It's for Belle,_ he kept telling himself. Belle who the town only knew as the wife of the Dark One, the one who almost no one seemed to want to really get to know.

Sometimes the Charmings weren't so useless after all. Even if they were rather irritating.

They were already there when he and Belle arrived and he saw Snow rather too enthusiastically wave them over. Rumplestiltskin groaned. Belle elbowed him in the ribs. "Be nice," she warned.

With a sigh, he allowed her to lead him over to their table. Snow stood as they arrived, greeting Belle with a hug. When she stepped closer to him, he stepped back and her arms awkwardly fell to her side.

"Sorry," Belle said and pinched him just a little too hard on the arm. "Rumple's not exactly the hugging type."

"Right," Snow said and he wondered if pregnancy hormones had really turned her brain to mush or if she had simply forgotten who the hell he was. He cocked his head to the side as he studied her. He had heard the term "pregnancy brain" before, of course, but he had never seen it in full force before.

It was interesting, to say the least.

Most of the dinner went fairly well. He managed to launch only a couple barbs toward the Charmings and was rewarded once with Belle's elbow and the second time with a sharp heel digging into his instep. She did it with a smile and he laughed off the pain. He got some odd looks from the pair sitting opposite him, but that was not exactly out of the ordinary.

So he was pretty sure that they would manage to escape this little dinner pretty much unscathed based on the rather boring and insipid conversation he had to deal with so far (_but they want to get to know you! _Ha, he knew better than that!). But then dessert came, and Charming leaned forward and looked to Snow for a second and they both looked like they were scared to speak.

Of course.

They wanted something. They _always_ wanted something.

No one invited the Dark One out for dinner unless they wanted to make nice to get what they wanted out of him.

"I knew it!" Rumplestiltskin exclaimed, pointing a finger at them.

"What?" Snow asked and she looked horribly confused.

"I knew you wanted a deal."

"Rumple," Belle said under her breath.

"No," Charming said quickly. "No we don't…"

"Really dearie? Then why this whole charade?" He waved a hand around him and his voice might have gotten the attention of most of the patrons of the diner.

"Rumple," Belle repeated.

"Oh great," Snow said, her face red.

Charming just looked around at the diner and back to Rumplestiltskin. "Can't you do anything about them?"

"No." And the smile on his face surely must have looked quite feral to the prince. "What exactly is it that you want?"

"Ok look," Charming said and leaned forward. He glanced around the room again and the spoke, his voice lowered, almost a whisper. "You guys are pretty happy, right?"

"Well, I think so, yes," Rumplestiltskin said and turned to Belle.

She gave him an equally confusing look. "Yes. We are."

"Ok so look…we've been having…_trouble_…since the baby was born." Charming looked so dead serious, his eyes going first to Rumplestiltskin and then to Belle. "And we hear rumors about you guys…"

"Oh God," Snow said. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"No, no," Charming said and reached out to touch her hand. "It was a good one."

"You won't hear me say this often," Rumplestiltskin said, leaning forward a little himself. "But I think Snow White is right."

"Rumple," Belle said and this time it was accompanied by a roll of the eyes and that look. He knew that look. It meant that the negligee was going back into the closet unless he behaved. Damned woman knew how to strike a deal at least as well as he did.

"Ok fine. What exactly is it that you wanted to know?" He was trying not to look impatient and annoyed, but sometimes that was really really hard when it came to these folks.

"Just…how _do_ you keep the spark alive?" Snow responded with and then clapped her hand over her mouth, face bright red, eyes looking anywhere but at the couple in front of her.

Rumplestiltskin smirked. "Well, it does help having the most beautiful woman in town on my arm."

"Rumple," Belle responded with and hit his arm lightly. But he could tell from the way she bit her lip and smiled she was trying to hide that she enjoyed the compliment.

"You compliment her…always," he went on to say.

Belle nodded. "And breakfast in bed is always appreciated."

"Foot rubs," Rumplestiltskin offered and tried not to notice that Charming was writing the words down as he spoke.

"Back massages," Belle said. "Oh! And kissing. A lot of kissing."

He watched as Charming squirmed at that and smirked. "With tongue, of course." He watched the man turn bright red. "But not too much tongue. You don't want her to think you're a dog licking her face or anything."

He leaned back and glanced over at Belle, quite enjoying the way she was eying him.

"Is that…" Snow started to say. She took a deep breath. "Is that all?"

_Oh she really did _not_ want to ask him that._

"Of course not," Belle answered quickly. "Soft music, a little candlelight…"

"Oral sex," Rumplestiltskin tossed in and was gratified to hear Snow let out a little squeak.

"Well, yes. There is that," Belle answered. "And toys," she tossed in. "Those can help too."

"Oh God," Snow said.

"There's a shop around the corner, dearie," Rumplestiltskin pointed out. "I'm sure you and the dear prince could find _something_ there to, shall we say, spice things up."

"We don't need spicy," Charming pointed out.

"You wanted spark," Rumplestiltskin said with a slight pout.

"Rumple, did you tell them about the handcuffs?"

"You know," Snow suddenly said, "I think we're just about ready to go. We'll, um…pay at the counter." She grabbed Charming's hand and the two of them left, heads slightly down as they rushed from the diner.

Belle leaned over to Rumplestiltskin. "Do you think they're embarrassed or aroused?"

Rumplestiltskin shrugged. "Hard to tell, darling." As Belle let out a laugh, he learned close to her. "So about that negligee you promised to wear later…"


	4. The Right Present

It was almost Baelfire's birthday, and Belle thought she should give him a present, being his stepmother and all that, but the clock was ticking and every idea that popped into her head was worse than the one before.

She first came home with a teddy bear. Kids liked bears, right? Gold took one look at it and pointed out that Baelfire was, indeed, _ten_ and that a ten-year-old kid was bound to be laughed out of his own party if he got a present like that.

Dejected but determined, Belle had returned the bear to the store and asked the clerk what a ten-year-old boy would like for a birthday present. He had given her a video game, some shoot 'em up thing that he said was all the rage currently. When Belle had presented _that_ to Gold he had given her a rather blank look. "I hear they love them," she had offered rather lamely. Apparently they did not actually have the console that the game was played on thus making her gift lovely and yet pointless. It went back to the store as well.

After that, she had brought back any number of things. A bike (too big), a fancy calculator (too boring), a kitten (_Do you want my whole house destroyed?_). She tried, really she did, but it seemed that she was no more prepared to be a step-mother than she was to be Queen of England.

His birthday was now a week away and she had nothing to show for it. No present, nothing amazing that she could give him to win him over. Gold told her Baelfire loved her, but he was still Gold's son, not hers, and she didn't quite know how to deal with that just yet. They had only gotten married the summer before and this was her first time as Bae's actual _step-mother_ and not just his Dad's girlfriend.

She wanted to impress him. And his friends. And it seemed she was an abject failure.

Gold told her she wasn't, that ten-year-olds were hard to shop for, that he was guaranteed to hate almost anything a parent or parental figure gave him. But it didn't help. She was miserable and angry over the whole thing. She didn't want to get him something he'd hate or be embarrassed by or resent. She wanted something that made him go _Ah ha! That is the best present I have ever gotten in my entire life_.

Instead she was probably going to be relegated to that totally uncool step-mother, the one that he rolled his eyes about when he didn't think she was looking.

"Sweetheart, you'll think of something," Rumplestiltskin offered up late one night as they lay in bed. She was still wracking her mind for that special _something_ for her step-son.

"I'm not sure I will." His birthday was two days away by then and she had nothing. Not even a card.

She fell asleep and dreamed of children laughing at her horrible present.

"Fruit?" she asked the next morning.

"Why would he want fruit?"

Belle shrugged. "Ok maybe chocolate."

"Is he your Valentine then?" Gold asked and Belle sighed.

"A car?"

"In six years."

Another sigh. "Legos?"

"He's never much been into building things," Gold pointed out.

"The commercial said boys love them."

"Not Bae."

Yet another sigh.

It took all of Belle's courage to go back to the bloody toy store one last time. His birthday was the next day, the big party that afternoon. There wasn't any time to spare, not anymore. She was going to have to get something and get it _now_. Wandering the store gave her no more ideas and the proprietor likely thought she was crazy by now.

And then she came back to that game. Kids _loved_ games. She knew that much. She grabbed it and took it up to the shop owner. "What do I need to play this game?"

He smiled and she knew _he_ knew he had made a rather large sale. He showed her to the latest Playstation, the surround sound speakers, the fancy controllers. She had no idea what was optional and so left the store with every little thing the guy suggested. Bae would like it. She was sure of it.

The big day rolled around and she wrapped up her little game. She wouldn't tell Gold what she had done. She wanted to surprise them all. The rest she wrapped up and left in the unused guest bedroom.

When it came time to unwrap presents, Belle was excited and nervous. His friend's presents came first and they were varying degrees of interesting and downright strange. Then she told him to go ahead and open his father's. When he unwrapped a set of Star Wars Legos and let out a whoop, Belle turned to her husband with one eyebrow raised. "I thought you said he didn't like them."

"Well, I couldn't have you go get the same thing _I_ got him, now could I?"

"Hmph," she responded with. "Open mine now Bae!"

He did with great relish but then stared at the game for a moment before looking at her, confusion in his eyes. Her husband leaned down close to her. "I told you we didn't have the console for it," he whispered.

There was such a sad look in her stepson's eyes for a moment that she almost felt bad about the whole thing. "Bae, why don't you go duck into the guest bedroom?" He stared at her for a moment, still with that furrow between his eyebrows that reminded her so much of her husband, but then understanding dawned. And a huge smile broke out on his face and before she could even blink he was up and running down the hall with his friends hot on his heels.

"You didn't," Gold said.

"Holy crap!" her stepson shouted from the other room.

"I did," Belle said with a smirk.

Baelfire came running out of the room and wrapped his arms around her waist in a huge hug. "Mom you're the best!" And then he was off again to grab his present and see about getting it set up in the back room.

"Well I guess you win." Gold shook his head but the indulgent smile on his face told the whole story.

"I guess I did." And the truth was that hearing her stepson call her "Mom" for the first time was really worth all the agonizing over his present.


	5. Stuck

It was without a doubt all completely _her_ fault. Honestly, most things _were_ these days. Rumplestiltskin was often gone for long periods of time, a day or two here, a week or more there. He left her alone in the Dark Castle to dust or read or do whatever her heart desired. It was boring, frankly. Oh, she enjoyed her reading no doubt, but she enjoyed his company even more. And so there were only so many days she could take of complete solitude before she got…well..._curious_.

That day had brought her to his tower room. She always enjoyed exploring it, like her own personal cave of wonders. But she knew better than to touch. Touching was bad. He had told her that multiple times. _I don't care if you go in there dearie, just don't _touch_ anything_.

Which was why, of course, she had touched something.

And that something had touched back.

And now she was trapped with rather large vines wrapped tightly around her stomach and binding her arms to the couch that he kept in the room for an occasional nap. She could barely move, though she could breathe fine.

But she was bored.

Very bored.

And it was all her own damned fault.

The problem, as she saw it, was that if Rumplestiltskin didn't come back from his trip for another week he'd find that he had a very dead maid on his hands. And she wasn't quite ready to admit defeat.

She squirmed and twisted and begged whatever it was to release her. But it stayed steadfast. It did not tighten, but it did not release her. Really, she had no idea _what_ she had touched and if it would wear off in a day or a week or never.

So she remained where she was. She passed the first hour by thinking about the latest book she had been reading and where the plot might be going. Several ideas presented themselves to her and she enjoyed each and every one.

But that fun wore of quickly.

She spent the next couple hours imagining how Rumplestiltskin might come to her rescue, her own knight in scales and wizard's robes. None of those probably matched up with reality. And she was getting increasingly nervous that she would have to _face_ that reality soon.

Three hours down, the gods only knew how much longer.

She spent an hour singing the songs of her homeland.

And then one carrying on imaginary conversations with her employer.

And yet a third making up her own songs.

Six hours down and no hope of rescue. Not one thing had changed about her situation except that the sun had gone down a little bit and sunset was upon them. It was a lovely sunset. Or would be if she could see more than a quarter of the window from where she was.

It really was getting quite tiresome. Worse even than the boredom of being stuck in his tower like this was the fact that she had to pee. And if she didn't get out of her predicament soon, he was going to find a dead maid sitting on a couch soaked in urine. Which was rather less appealing to her than his just finding her dead.

Twenty minutes later and she couldn't take it anymore. "Rumplestiltskin!" She didn't even know if he'd come, but she hoped that a frantic call coming from his own tower would be enough to…

"And just _what_ have we here?" His voice came from the doorway of the room and she turned her head to look at him.

"Rumplestiltskin!" She had never been so relieved to see the man in her entire life. Not even when he saved her people from the ogres. No, this time she was _really really_ happy to see him.

"What did you do to yourself?" He cocked his head to the side, brow furrowing.

"I don't even know."

"I know what you did," he pointed out.

"I…"

And he stepped closer and leaned down. "You _touched_ something."

She hung her head, bit her lower lip. "I did."

He was silent for another moment and she didn't dare look up at him. "How long have you been like this?"

"Um…six hours or so?"

His eyes widened. "It took you that long to call for me?"

"I didn't want you to know." She bit her lip and watched as he smirked.

"Well, maybe I'll keep you tied up like that for awhile longer then." Her eyes widened and she noticed his did too at the implication behind the words. "I…um…nevermind then." He waved a hand and suddenly she was released, the vines melting away as if they'd never been there.

After a moment of joy, she jumped up and launched herself at him. "Thank you!" she shouted as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. "Thank you so much." And then she was off and running.

"Belle?" He sounded confused and maybe a little irate but she just didn't have _time_ for such things.

"I have to pee!" she shouted over her shoulder and made a beeline for her own chambers. They could discuss this little fiasco later when her bladder wasn't full to bursting.

The fact that she heard his high-pitched giggling laughter follow her down the hallway made her feel just slightly better about the whole thing. Maybe it was all too ridiculous for her to get in any sort of _real_ trouble over it all.


	6. Unexpected

This was certainly not what Charming was expecting to see. He had come to Rumplestiltskin, as he so often did, looking for some sort of potion to free a woman from a witch. Usually when he stormed his castle, as he so often did, he found the main hall empty, Rumplestiltskin generally popping up somewhere behind him in an attempt to frighten him out of his wits.

But today he stormed in, the doors flying open, to reveal not only the sorcerer in question, but a young woman. She was dressed in fairly plain clothes, a maid's outfit if he wasn't mistaken, and Rumplestiltskin was chasing her around the table. With a pillow.

The woman seemed equally armed as she raced after the sorcerer who suddenly disappeared and appeared behind her to wallop her over the head. Which hardly seemed fair.

"Cheater!" the woman shouted and turned on him, shoving her pillow into his face before the sorcerer could back up a pace. "I told you _no magic_."

"I didn't agree to that, dearie." Rumplestiltskin's voice had absolutely no bite to it, none at all, even though the tiny woman continued to hit him with the pillow she held.

"Well, it's not _fair_," she pouted.

"Oh," Rumplestiltskin said and lowered his pillow. Charming had about two seconds to see what was coming. Which was about two seconds more than Rumplestiltskin appeared to have as the woman suddenly hit him hard across the side of the head and took off running away.

"You!" Rumplestiltskin shouted as he chased after her.

"You might have magic, but I have something better," the woman shouted back.

"Really now?" the sorcerer said, transporting himself to right in front of her and cutting off her escape path. "And what might that be?"

Her eyes got really large and Charming could see her lower lip stick out and damned if the sorcerer didn't lower his pillow again. "This!" the woman said and smacked him in the face with the pillow before running off laughing.

"Dammit man, even _I_ saw that coming!" Charming couldn't help but shout.

Rumplestiltskin stopped and turned to him. The woman did too, but her reaction to his presence derailed her for a shorter period of time than it did the sorcerer. She smacked the man in the head once more and Charming just rolled his eyes.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" Rumplestiltskin snapped at him and was rewarded by a pillow smacking him in the butt for his inattention.

"You!" he shouted and turned away from Charming. In seconds he was in front of the woman and she tried to hit him again. When he sidestepped her, she went off balance, flying forward. As Charming gasped, waiting for her to end up sprawled out on the floor, Rumplestiltskin moved, blocked her with his body.

And they both tumbled to the floor.

The maid on top of the sorcerer.

He held his breath.

"Oh," said the maid.

"Oh," said the sorcerer.

And he was pretty sure the way they were looking at each other meant he did _not_ want to stick around.

"I…uh…I'll just come back later then."

Neither of the two acknowledged him as he slipped back out the front door of the castle.


	7. Advice Taken

Belle and Rumplestiltskin are walking home when something catches her eye in the sex store across the road. They've been there any number of times before, the proprietor always immediately happy to see them when they walk in the door. They are, apparently, rather well known for their interesting sex life. Even if no one _really_ wants to speculate on it.

Which is why Belle even glances that way while strolling the streets of Storybrooke with her husband.

But what she sees there makes her stop in her tracks, dragging Rumplestiltskin to a halt at her side.

"Belle…what…" he starts to say but she shushes him. And points.

His gaze follows her finger and she loves seeing the confused furrow there. She wants to smooth it away with her finger, wants to kiss it away, wants to drag him back into an alley and have her way with him.

But she doesn't. Instead she watches as recognition dawns.

"Well I'll be damned," he mutters. "I never really thought they'd do it."

She didn't either, but there in the window of that sex shop, the _only_ sex shop in town, are Snow and Charming. And neither look happy about it either. Even from this distance, she can see Snow's face is bright red and Charming looks disgruntled.

Next to her, Rumple's shoulders are shaking with silent laughter. "Shall we go in, my dear?" he asks and she wants to elbow him in the ribs.

Though she can't say she doesn't find it funny too. But does she really want to walk in there? "No," she finally says. "I think we should just leave them be. This is a huge step for them."

She starts to walk away but Rumplestiltskin pulls her back. "Oh come how dear. Surely you want to see how this all turns out?"

And she does. She can't lie. She's curious to see if they buy anything or if they run out in fear when they see the double-ended dildos, the warming creams and edible underwear. And the penis lollipops. She still remembers making Rumplestiltskin both amused _and_ horny when she bought one of those.

It's a good memory.

Most of their ones involving the bedroom…or the kitchen…or that time in the stacks in the back of the library…well, they're all good no matter where they are. They're adventurous and Belle has always been surprised at just _how much_ she enjoys that kind of adventure.

"Ok we stay here. We don't go in. And we don't say _a thing_ when they come out." She pokes her finger into his chest and is rewarded with a slight huff of laughter.

"Fine. We'll stay _right_ here."

And they do. They watch through the window at a distance as the couple is shown around the store and then left to their own devices. Rumplestiltskin offers up commentary about the objects they pick up and quickly set down.

But then…

"They're buying something aren't they?" Belle asks, squinting to see as the cashier rings them up.

"They are indeed," Rumplestiltskin says and his smirk is far too catching. Belle tries to fight it but she finds an answering smirk is crossing her own face.

And then Charming sticks his head out of the shop and glances both ways. "All clear," she hears him say. Snow emerges with the paper bag in hand and they attempt to slink off.

Which is why, no doubt, that Rumplestiltskin steps forward and makes sure they notice him.

Belle groans.

_Say nothing, Rumple_. And he doesn't. He just strolls past them and offers them that cat that ate the canary grin that he's so good at. Charming looks like he's a bit green around the gills, Snow's face could not get any redder than it currently is.

"Enjoy your evening," Rumplestiltskin says and damn him if he doesn't _wink_ at them. The prince and his wife stop, stare at them as they stroll away.

Belle turns around and mouths _I'm sorry_ at them. And then watches as the pair scurry off. "I thought you weren't going to say anything," she mutters to Rumplestiltskin.

"I never said that." And she realizes that, yet again, he has tricked her with his words. This time it's really her own fault. "Just being friendly, sweetheart," he points out and she just shakes her head. Some things will never change and his never-ending quest to torment and embarrass the Charmings is certainly one of them.


	8. Pillow Den

"Even though you're the Dark One you can still enjoy a pillow den and cocoa," Belle said to him late one evening.

Rumplestiltskin sat at his wheel and watched as his maid set up the damned thing. A pillow den. In the Dark Castle. Really, who _does_ such a thing? She's arranging them carefully, piling them together in such a way to make the area in front of the fire look cozy.

Cozy.

In the Dark Castle.

What horror did he inflict on himself when he brought the woman into his home?

He watches as she stops and looks over at him and he simply shakes his head.

"I need more pillows." She gives him one of those cross looks before she starts to leave the room.

"I believe you missed a few over there," he points out. Helpful. He's being helpful. The gods help _him_. Not that they'd pay much attention to his blackened soul.

"Oh!" Belle exclaims as she rushes toward them. But a moment later she's turned back toward him and she's eying him with _that look_. The one that says _I know they weren't there before, Mister_.

He just shrugs and goes back to his spinning.

"You're joining me, you know," she says as she grabs the pillows, shooting him another glance full of amusement and tenacity.

"Really? And how _do_ you plan on achieving that feat?" He doesn't even look away from his spinning as he speaks to her. He hears the click of her heels stop for a moment and then continue she comes closer.

"Feminine wiles?" she offers up.

He lets out a small scoffing noise. "As if I would fall prey to _that_."

She just laughs at that and flits away and he dares a glance at her then. She's rearranging the pillows and there's a smile on her face and every once in awhile she looks back at him. And he looks back at his spinning.

But he knows she catches him watching. He should just magic up a cloaking spell. Or send her into the duck pond. Or make her wash all the sheets on the beds in the unused wing.

Well, there's no beds there and no sheets, but he can magic those up. And the dust to coat them. And then send her on her merry way where she'll be stuck for days and spend the rest of her time at his castle cursing his very existence.

Yes, that would do quite nicely.

Which is why when she steps close to him and offers him a mug of steaming cocoa, he stands and follows her. Yes, he'll get to that dust and sheets and work soon. But the smell of the cocoa is enticing and there's a soft look about her as she crooks a finger and he finds that he cannot resist her.

"Come…sit. Just for a little while?" she asks.

And damn him if he doesn't _sit down_ in the middle of her little den and sip his cocoa without a word of protest.

What exactly _is_ his world coming to anyway?

Belle just sits next to him. And smiles. And sips her cocoa. But he feels her gaze on him and he finally glances her way.

"Feminine wiles," she points out and the smile on her face just might warm his cold dark heart just a little.

Not that he'll ever admit that to her.


	9. Blankets

"Rumple, do we have any spare blankets?" Belle asked as she stepped out of the kitchen. The nice _warm_ kitchen. It was really the only place in the whole castle that was currently even remotely comfortable. Her room was frigid even with the fire going. The Great Hall was so cold she was sure she could see her breath.

"I told you to stop calling me that," he responded with and she was sure that he muttered something under his breath about impertinent maids.

"It's freezing in here."

He looked up at her then and for a moment the look was unfathomable. "What did you expect dearie? It's the _Dark_ Castle, after all."

"I expected it to be dark," she answered, honest to a fault. "But cold is not the same thing as dark and it is _freezing_."

She waited, arms crossed, attempting to rub off the goose bumps that were quickly rising on the bare skin of her arms.

"Hmph," was all he said.

"You're really going to let me freeze to death? How would you clean this castle _then_?" She stepped closer to him as she spoke.

"I have magic, dearie," he started to say.

"Ha! I knew it." She smirked at him and it was _almost_ worth freezing to see the look on his face.

"Care to enlighten me?" He waved one hand in the air as he spoke and she loved seeing the Dark One looking flustered.

"This castle can clean itself. You don't actually _need _me."

"I…"

"Hmmm," she responded with and then turned to flit away. Her point was made. Rather well really. Yes, being cold was quite worth his finally admitting that.

As she stepped away, something heavy fell on her. Heavy and soft enveloping her completely. Sputtering, she knocked whatever it was away from her, which took more than a few moments as she had to wade through it all to get back to the fresh cold air of the Dark Castle's Great Room.

"What…" she started to ask.

"Blankets, dearie," Rumplestiltskin pointed out and she glanced down at the pile at her feet.

With a smile she gathered up the entire hoard of blankets. "Thank you."

He offered up a shrug. "It's not like I did anything."

"Of course not," she responded with and wrapped the blankets around herself as she curled up by the fire with her latest book. She'd let him believe she thought that the _castle_ decided to dump the blankets on top of her. But she knew otherwise. He really was getting quite predictable in his refusal to acknowledge that he _liked_ having her around.


	10. Belle's Birthday

Of all the dates and events that he had found himself having to care about over the course of being the Dark One, he had never expected his little maid's birthday to become one of the more important ones.

Which was ridiculous really.

She was the help.

That's what he told himself every single day. And yet he had found himself asking when her birthday was and then trying to figure out how to make it perfect for her.

Not that it mattered.

It's just that happy help is good help.

That's what he told himself every single day. And he'd make sure that she knew that too. It wasn't for _her_. It was for him. He was the Dark One and the Dark One does not make nice gestures to maids.

So when the day rolled around and he might have allowed her to sleep in by keeping her door locked, he was surprised to hear her screaming his name from inside her room. And it was most certainly not a _Rumplestiltskin thank you so much for letting me sleep in_ voice. It was a _Rumplestiltskin I am so mad at you that I am going to smack you upside the head as soon as I get out of here_ voice.

With a sigh, he appeared in front of the door and opened it, nearly getting himself an armful of maid before she caught herself and stepped back.

"Why did you lock me in?" she demanded, hands on her hips, and damn her but she did not look pleased _at all_ by the kind gesture.

"I…I thought you might like to sleep in?" The words sounded pathetic even to his own ears.

"Sleep in?" The confusion cleared from her face after just a moment and he was faced with a smirking Belle. "Really?"

"Yes, well, since you appear to be awake, I suppose you can just get started on your duties then." He turned and walked away and disappeared from the hall as soon as he heard her start to laugh.

Ridiculous maid.

When she finally made it downstairs, for apparently she _did_ decide she wanted to sleep in after all, she was smiling.

"Sleep well then?" he asked.

"I did."

"Well, good then. That means you'll work even harder this afternoon." Yes, that was exactly why he did it. She could work harder, clean better, maybe even make them a nice meal.

Of course, that didn't happen. She found a new book on the chaise lounge after half-heartedly dusting one of his shelves. "Oh!" he heard her exclaim and tried very hard not to react.

But he looked anyway.

And saw the smile on her face as she removed the ribbon and the paper it somehow had appeared in. How that happened, he really couldn't quite say. It's not like _he_ did it.

"This is for me?" He could see the way her eyes were shining just a little bit, could hear the way her voice hitched as she spoke the words.

He stepped closer and snatched the book away from her. "Of course not," he snapped at her. "It's mine."

And he was rewarded not with consternation or even anger. No, he was rewarded with a ridiculously happy smile. "I see," she said and didn't she just sound prim and proper. "I had no idea you were interested in such subject matter."

He glanced down at the book and grimaced. _The Lost Princess and the Knight of a Thousand Swords_. "Do I even want to know what this is about?"

"So you admit it was for me then?" Belle replied and the sweetness behind her voice was almost sickly.

He sneered and shoved the book back at her. "Enjoy your book," he muttered and disappeared. It would be easier to spend the day in his tower room. Let her read and ignore all the work that he wanted her to do.

He did it too. He spent all day in the tower. Of course, he was interrupted with her showing up with tea and if the tray was piled high with her favorite chocolates he had _no_ idea how they got there.

And he had no idea how the vanilla and lavender scented bath soap showed up in her room wrapped in pretty wrapping paper either.

When she found him in the kitchen later on that evening she simply stopped and stared. "What are you doing?"

"Now, I know that you're not quite familiar with how this room works," he started to say but then there was that _look _on her face.

"I cook every night," Belle pointed out.

"Is that what you call it?" He tried for a sneering tone but he was fairly certain it came out more teasing than he intended.

"I don't hear you complain."

"Actually…"

"Rumplestiltskin, are you making me dinner?"

He stopped stirring and looked up at her. "No of course not."

"No?"

"I'm making _myself_ dinner. I thought it was high time that I eat something better than that sludge you call _stew_." This time he was sure that his voice had a sneer to it.

"Of course," Belle answered and he could hear the laughter behind the words. "So I'll just wait for you in the Great Room then shall I?"

And she skipped out.

_Skipped._

His maid would be the death of him someday.

Of course, he showed up a half hour later with what they once called a cottage pie. Perfectly braised beef and vegetables, topped with potatoes that were mashed and then properly whipped. It smelled delicious and Belle was waiting at the table when he came out with it, hands primly clasped together on her lap and a big grin on her face.

"Oh that smells lovely!" she exclaimed

"And why exactly do you think you're getting any of this?" he asked her and she smirked as he simply spooned some out into a dish for her and pushed it across the table at her. It's not like he could allow her to _starve_. "If you starve to death, I'll have to find a new maid," he pointed out. "And that's really rather difficult. There aren't that many ogres wars after all, dearie."

Belle just laughed and dug in. And her exclamations of pleasure over the taste did not warm his heart. Not at all.

When she finished and pushed the food away, she gave a great big sigh. "I'm stuffed. I don't think I could eat another bite."

"Well, good. That should give you some energy for cleaning."

And she laughed again as she shook her head, amusement evident in every line of her body. "I should go put these dishes to soaking." She leaned over to grab one and found it was gone.

The others were too.

"They're clean," he said, really quite stupidly. He was rewarded with another smile for that one.

"Well, I guess I'll just go finish reading my book if there's nothing else to do," Belle said brightly and stepped close to him. Too close. He froze as she leaned down and hugged him and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for a lovely birthday, Rumplestiltskin."

He nodded, mute, and she moved away. "Belle?" he finally managed to choke out. She turned back to him at the sound of her name. "Happy birthday." And he _almost_ smiled when she gave him that brilliant smile of hers.

After all, he couldn't have the maid thinking he was a besotted idiot.

Even if he was.


	11. The New Puppy

Being the Dark One's True Love had taught Belle to expect the unexpected, but never had she thought she would return home to find him with a puppy in hand.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she stepped into the house, her head cocking to the side. The puppy was small, probably not even old enough to be taken away from its mother. Tiny and fuzzy and with eyes barely open.

"Rumple?" she asked.

"The mother rejected him," he said softly. She realized in his other hand was a small dropper.

"You're feeding him," she said as she realized what was going on.

"The vet gave me formula." He tried to sound nonchalant but she couldn't stop smiling. She found this side of him so endearing.

"That's where you were this afternoon." She had gone by his shop and found it closed, which was unusual for her love. He was always at the shop and when he wasn't, he was with her. But he hadn't been at the shop. He hadn't been at home. He hadn't come by the library and she had worried.

He nodded and Belle came closer, scratching the tiny puppy under his scruffy little chin. "What is he?"

"I suppose that's between the mother and her unknown paramour."

"And the mother is…"

"Mr. Taylor's Scottie."

"Ah, that would explain the scruff," Belle said and gave the puppy another scratch. "What happened exactly?"

"Well, when two dogs love each other very very much…"

She punched him lightly on the arm. "Why was the puppy _rejected_, you dolt?"

Rumplestiltskin gave her a small grin and then held the puppy up. One of his front legs was twisted to the side, the paw smaller than the other ones.

"Oh," she whispered.

Rumplestiltskin nodded. "The vet said they'll likely have to amputate when he's a little older but that dogs can function perfectly well with three legs."

"And so…" She waited for the inevitable. He had never said they _couldn't_ have a dog but she somehow imagined his choice would be something other than the deformed runt of an "oops" litter.

"He's ours…if we want him."

"You feel connected to him." And even though he no longer needed his cane, even though magic had healed him, she knew he felt for the tiny puppy.

"I do," he admitted and it was perhaps the most open he had ever been with her.

"Well then I guess this little guy is ours."

The puppy let out a yawn at Belle's proclamation. "And I guess it's time for someone to get a little rest," Rumplestiltskin said with a laugh.

"I suppose it is."

It seemed they had a new member of the family to spoil rotten and Belle could not be happier about it.


End file.
